The invention relates to machines used to mechanically peel, clean and otherwise mechanically treat the outer surfaces of food items, including at least potatoes, carrots, beets, radishes and onions.
It is known in the food processing industry that food items must be cleaned prior to sale or further processing. In order to accomplish the cleaning of food items in an efficient manner, machines are commonly used. Some machines use water sprayed at high velocity to dislodge soil, microbes and other matter from the exterior of the food item. Other machines use brushes and water while still other machines use other rapidly rotating surfaces to clean food items, and can alternatively remove the skin or outer layer of the food items.
In one known example of such a machine, an Abrasive Peeling Apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,745,914 to Wallace, which is incorporated herein by reference. The Wallace patent describes a machine that uses a plurality of rotatable elongated rollers with an abrasive outer surface adapted to move the material to be peeled along the length of the rollers. The material to be peeled is fed into an inlet opening in one end of the apparatus and the abrasive rollers carry the product and urge it toward the opposite outlet end while peeling the product. Driving means, such as electric motors, rotate each of the rollers, preferably in the same direction.
Several versions of peeling and cleaning machines are also sold by Vanmark Equipment, LLC of Creston, Iowa, including the Peeler/Scrubber/Washer series 2400, 2600, 2800 and 2900 machines. Such machines use abrasive rollers, which can include a plurality of cylindrically shaped brushes that are rotatably driven by a motor. Such brushes can clean and/or peel the food products being conveyed past the rotating brushes, such as by gravity, auger or other conveyance device. Whether the food product is cleaned or peeled is determined by the rotating speed, stiffness, bristle diameter and material and other parameters of the machine that are known to those of skill in the technology.
An example of the brush assembly 10 used in the machines described above is shown in FIG. 1 and is formed with a cylindrical central tube 12 from which radial bristles 14 extend to form a circular cylindrical circumference that strikes food items as they pass through the machine. The tube's central passage 16 is at least partially square, thus permitting a square driveshaft 18 to extend therethrough, resulting in a driveshaft supporting, and imparting a rotary motion to, each brush assembly. A preferably square driven end 20 is inserted into a matingly shaped square cavity on a driven component, such as a pulley or gear (not shown), thereby imparting rotary motion to the brush 10.
It is desirable to occasionally replace worn brushes in the machines described above, and this is typically accomplished by removing the brush and driveshaft as an assembly, threadingly removing a nut 24 from one end and slidingly and axially withdrawing the driveshaft 18 from the brush's central passage 16. A new brush is placed on the driveshaft and the entire assembly is reinserted into the apparatus.
It is also desirable to prevent food particles from entering the central passage because cleaning the passage is difficult. It is known to insert annular, flexible end fittings or fixtures 30 in an annular gap between the driveshaft 18 and the inside of the brush's central core to support the brush 10 on the driveshaft and to reduce the amount of food particles that can enter the central passage of the brush.